In an attempt to improve product substantivity on skin surfaces, the prior art has traditionally used cationic fatty derivatives, quaternary ammonium salts, resins and gums as additives in cream/lotion bases. Little work has been done to improve the emulsion base itself apart from routine product stability adjustments. In recent years, raw material vendors flooded the market with additional additives to further complicate the dilemma. Indeed, the formulation of good cream/lotion bases has become secondary to the incorporation of these inelegant additives with the result that compositions have been created which neither look nor feel like cosmetic creams. Instead, they are very sticky, and leave an uncomfortable feel throughout the usage period. User compliance with such compositions is therefore quite poor. Moreover, the use of certain of the cationic/quaternary ingredients causes skin and eye irritations. In addition, the resins and gums cause "powdering" upon drying from too great a friability which further contributes to poor product appearance and inferior skin substantivity.
As a result, many products on the market today give the consumer a false sense of security because of the inability of the active ingredients thereof to remain in place when the user is engaged in water activities, or encounters rain or other liquids which literally wash the active ingredients away. This is especially critical when sunscreening is desired because exposure of unprotected or poorly protected skin to solar radiation has been shown to result in many harmful effects including the formation of skin cancers.
The present invention comprises an effort to provide an elegant topically applied preparation which is water repellent, moisturizes the skin, and further serves as a novel delivery system for applying sunscreens topically to human skin. A sunscreen preparation prepared in accordance with the present invention possesses many positive attributes including superior water repellency, resistance to being washed off, physiological mildness, and a pleasant feel which enhances user comfort and hence, user compliance thereby more effectively assuring user protection from solar radiation.